After the game restarted, Hoffenheim switched from shrinking defense to a full-court press again.

This was, of course, Rangnick's instruction.

Rangnick adjusted quickly enough, not giving his players time to feel lost on the field.

Faced with Hoffenheim's pressing, Borussia Dortmund's strategy was for Zhou Yi and Sahin to strengthen their connection, using their passing and running cooperation to open up space and free Sahin.

Zhou Yi was, in effect, taking on part of Sahin's job.

Borussia Dortmund's overall strategy was to counterattack after controlling the ball, taking advantage of the space left behind by Hoffenheim's pressing.

And they did threaten Hoffenheim's goal a few times. If it weren't for Hildebrand's decent performance, Borussia Dortmund might have scored again.

However, this didn't make Hoffenheim retreat. Their pressing in the frontcourt became even more ferocious.

After all, they were only one goal behind, and that one-goal difference was still recoverable.

With a dozen minutes left in the game, there was still a chance.

In response to this situation, Sahin and Zhou Yi led Borussia Dortmund's midfield to slow down the pace and rhythm, starting to pass the ball back and forth frequently, partly to try to pull Hoffenheim's defenders out further, and partly to try to consume some game time through passing.

How could Hoffenheim not see Borussia Dortmund's intention?

Whenever Borussia Dortmund players passed the ball back and forth, boos would ring out from the Hoffenheim fans in the stands.

At the same time, Hoffenheim's players were also tackling even harder, with a hint of emotion in their pressing.

The unwillingness to be behind and the anger at Borussia Dortmund's passing.

In the eighty-first minute, Hoffenheim midfielder Maxuell, who had just come on as a substitute five minutes earlier, maliciously fouled Sahin, who was carrying the ball. Sahin, who was tackled to the ground, couldn't get up.

On the sidelines, Klopp jumped up and cursed in German.

As the team's core, Sahin was bound to become the focus of attention for each team, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly!

Sahin was injured!

Maxuell's foul caused a commotion on the field. In the chaos, Grosskreutz pushed the fouling Maxuell, but he was pushed back by Gustavo.

In the end, the referee of the match, Kompter, showed a red card to the fouling Maxuell, directly sending him off the field!

But Grosskreutz also received a yellow card.

Although Hoffenheim was one player short, Borussia Dortmund might not want to have one more player than their opponents like this, because Sahin could no longer continue the game.

During the conflict between the two teams' players, Borussia Dortmund's team doctor, Dr. Markus Braun, ran onto the field to examine Sahin.

Then he gestured to the sidelines to make a substitution.

Sahin couldn't continue the game and had to be replaced.

The stretcher also quickly ran onto the field to carry Sahin off.

At the same time, on the sidelines, Klopp, who had finished cursing, was making adjustments.

Another midfielder, Follner, would come on to replace the injured Sahin, and he would bring the coach's latest instructions.

※※※

Soon, Follner was substituted into the game.

"Borussia Dortmund has lost a key player. Although it has resulted in the opponent being one player short, I don't think Klopp wanted to make such an exchange," said Marcel Reif. "Hopefully Sahin's injury isn't too serious, otherwise the subsequent games will be troublesome for Borussia Dortmund..."

As he spoke, Follner ran onto the field and went straight to Zhou Yi.

"Zhou Yi. The coach wants you to replace Sahin."

"Let me play as a defensive midfielder?" Zhou Yi was surprised. He couldn't play as a defensive midfielder.

"No, he wants you to be the team's midfield core."

Zhou Yi had always firmly believed that a great responsibility would be entrusted to him, but he didn't expect this great responsibility to come so suddenly... This was only his first appearance in the league, and he was already going to be the midfield core!

This league debut was really eventful...

However, he didn't refuse or evade, but nodded: "Okay."

At the same time, assistant coach Buvac shouted on the field: "Let Zhou Yi handle the ball!!"

The other players understood that Zhou Yi was going to take over Sahin's role.

However, they weren't too surprised, because Zhou Yi had been training with them for five months, and they had a very clear understanding of Zhou Yi's abilities during these five months of training. In terms of ability, Zhou Yi was qualified for this.

Grosskreutz gave Zhou Yi a thumbs up to encourage him, and Zhou Yi returned Grosskreutz a thumbs up.

Because Maxuell's foul on Sahin was in Borussia Dortmund's backcourt, the first thing to do after the game restarted was for Borussia Dortmund to take a free kick in the backcourt.

Center back Hummels stood behind the football, wanting to kick the football directly to the frontcourt, which was also a relatively safe approach. But at this moment, he saw Zhou Yi running back from the midfield, running to ten meters in front of him, and actively gesturing for the ball.

The coach asked him to take over Sahin's work, and he really didn't hold back at all, instantly having the air of a team core.

Hummels changed his idea of kicking the ball to the frontcourt and passed the football to Zhou Yi instead.

Just as the football was being passed to Zhou Yi, Hoffenheim's striker Demba Ba also rushed towards Zhou Yi from behind.

If Zhou Yi's movements were a little slower, he might be stuck by Demba Ba.

But Zhou Yi didn't slow down to wait for Demba Ba. At the same time as the football was passed over, he kicked the football directly out again. This time he passed it to another center back, Subotic.

Then he ran away from the spot, running into the space left behind by Demba Ba's rush.

And Demba Ba was caught empty.

Running into the open space, Zhou Yi once again gestured to Subotic for the ball, so Subotic passed the football to Zhou Yi again.

It seemed that Borussia Dortmund's stars were all willing to listen to Zhou Yi. Here, it is necessary to mention the good impression that Zhou Yi left on everyone when he first entered the first team. He flattered everyone in the team, and everyone liked this clever and quick-witted young man. If he wanted the ball, then give it to him, it wasn't a big deal. No one would deliberately go against him.

Zhou Yi still passed the ball with one touch. He passed the football to right back Owomoyela. After passing the ball, he didn't let Owomoyela pass the football back to himself, but let Owomoyela dribble the ball forward on his own, while he himself followed forward, but not quickly, and also leaned towards the center.

Soon Owomoyela encountered Hoffenheim's interception on the way forward. He saw Zhou Yi at the first moment, so he passed the football to Zhou Yi, who was on the side to meet him.

After receiving the ball, Zhou Yi passed the football back to center back Subotic again.

After the football went around like this, it seemed to have returned to the starting point...

And Zhou Yi, who was originally an attacking midfielder, had been active in front of the defense line, looking more like a defensive midfielder.

How could the Hoffenheim fans in the stands not see what Zhou Yi was doing with this series of passes?

They booed again.

Marcel Reif felt that there was nothing wrong with what Zhou Yi and his teammates were doing: "Borussia Dortmund is passing the ball back and forth in the backcourt, controlling the football at their feet. The game time is passing by minute by minute, and they are getting closer and closer to victory!"

Hoffenheim's players had thought about increasing their actions to defend against Zhou Yi, such as increasing some physical contact - a look at Zhou Yi's small physique, and they knew that he was not good at physical confrontation.

But they basically couldn't seize the opportunity.

Because Zhou Yi's passing was very, very... fast!

He didn't even stop the ball or adjust. As soon as the football came over, he immediately passed the football out again!

At such a fast speed, the Hoffenheim players had no chance to get close.

※※※

Rangnick stared at Zhou Yi, who was running back and forth on the field to meet the pass, somewhat lost in thought.

He had seen players who passed the ball quickly, and he had also seen this kind of backcourt passing, but Zhou Yi's kind of passing was rare...

Why?

Because Zhou Yi hardly stopped the ball or adjusted it, and could pass the football directly. Although his passing targets were all defenders, mostly passing back, occasionally passing horizontally, and not a single ball was passed forward. But this still surprised Rangnick.

At first, he thought how could a player possibly pass the ball directly every time without adjusting?

Later, Rangnick discovered that Zhou Yi wasn't not adjusting, it was just that his way of adjusting was different from that of ordinary players. Ordinary people adjust the ball with their feet after receiving the ball, and then pass the football out, which is the so-called "three touches": one touch to stop the ball, one touch to adjust, and one touch to pass.

But in fact, the higher requirement is "two touches": one touch to stop the ball, and one touch to pass.

In Rangnick's view, Zhou Yi was the epitome of two touches.

So how did he do it?

On the one hand, Zhou Yi tried to choose the easiest object to pass to when choosing a passing target, so that he didn't have to adjust the football and could pass it directly.

Another reason was that when Zhou Yi was preparing to receive the ball, he would adjust his body posture. He used adjusting his body posture to replace the step of adjusting the ball with his feet, so that when the football came over, he could directly pass the football out again...

Rangnick stroked his chin, and he felt that he had underestimated this unknown pawn before. Now it seemed that this kid was really a bit capable in passing!

But it was still very dangerous to keep passing the ball back in the backcourt, because no one could guarantee that every pass and catch would be accurate and without any accidents. And as long as there was one, there was a possibility of being caught...

So Rangnick didn't stop the players from pressing.

※※※

This period of time was really a feast for the eyes for Zhou Jianliang, Li Cuiyun, and other Chinese fans in front of the TV, because the TV broadcast lens was basically centered on Zhou Yi and would always return to Zhou Yi.

It's just that they still had some regrets - it was a bit boring to always pass the ball back and forth like this, and it was a bit hypnotic...

They still wanted to see Zhou Yi's performance in the attack.

And they would also feel worried in their hearts, worried that if Zhou Yi continued to pass like this, and accidentally set himself on fire, and the opponent directly intercepted the ball and launched a counterattack, causing the team to lose the ball. Wouldn't that erase the previous goal's credit?

Commentator Duan Xin also had such concerns: "Borussia Dortmund is constantly passing the ball back and forth in the midfield and backcourt, and it can be seen that they want to delay time. After all, there are less than ten minutes left before the end of the game. But passing like this is still quite dangerous. You must know that Borussia Dortmund is only leading by one goal now, which will always bring hope to Hoffenheim. As the game time approaches, Hoffenheim will only be more crazy. Look at their pressing now... Dangerous!"

Before he could finish speaking, Duan Xin exclaimed.

Because he saw that when the football was passed to Zhou Yi again, there was already a person beside Zhou Yi in advance - Ibisevic, and another Hoffenheim player, Obasi, also rushed up. Hoffenheim was obviously going to fight hard, and this time they put on two people!

It looked like the ball passed to Zhou Yi would be intercepted!

This scene was heart-wrenching, and Duan Xin couldn't help but shout out.

But just as the Hoffenheim player was about to poke away Zhou Yi's ball first, Zhou Yi passed the football back again! It was just a little bit faster than the opponent!

Then, Zhou Yi, who passed back, leaned against the approaching Ibisevic and suddenly turned diagonally forward.

And center back Subotic, who received Zhou Yi's pass back, also seized the opportunity and passed the football diagonally to Zhou Yi!

He used a little bit of strength and passed the football in front of Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi stretched his foot and hooked the football in front of him. He didn't delay any speed and dribbled the ball forward!

In the blink of an eye, Borussia Dortmund suddenly changed from a state of passing the ball back and forth in the backcourt to an attack forward!

Such a fast change caught Hoffenheim off guard!

※※※

ps, I said at the beginning of this book that I wanted to write a book with a different feeling from the previous books, so this book will have a lot of details, and I will not only focus the perspective on the protagonist, but I will write about the people around him and the stories of people related to him. Otherwise, why would I create five fictional young players, instead of just having the protagonist alone like before?

So this book is not the kind of book that can constantly climax and make you feel addicted all the time.

This is a book that will be slower, but I firmly believe that it is a better quality book that is more worthy of repeated reading.

The subscription results from the beginning of the novel to the present also prove that there is a reason for me to do this. The subscription results are much better than I imagined, and even the same period results are better than my best-selling book "The King of the Winner". Only the monthly tickets are half-dead because I didn't have an outbreak and I didn't fight for them.

But I don't expect monthly tickets for this book. I just want to slowly write, write well, and write completely according to the rhythm and direction I initially set, and that's enough.

In addition, because this book is cooperating with a reality show program, it will not be written too long. Neither the number of words nor the time span in the book can be too long. If I delete some of the details that some people say are "watery", this book may be finished in 500,000 words, but that's not a novel, it's called an outline, it's called a story outline.

Some people are willing to read outlines, but I believe that more people are willing to read novels.

So I stick to my approach and write it like this. I also believe that after eating too many big meals, it is a different flavor to occasionally eat light porridge and side dishes.

Of course, if you don't want to read this kind of rhythm of the novel and just want to read pure爽, I respect your choice. You can go and read the previous books I wrote. "The King of the Winner" and "The Feral Zone" are all well-selling complete books, and "The Light of the Champion" also meets your definition of "not watery", all of which are dry goods, and guarantee that there are no off-court life details - in "The Light of the Champion", a rookie becomes the savior of São Paulo in forty-six chapters, while in "The Heart of a Champion", the protagonist has just played in the first official league game at 800,000 words.

Finally, let me say it again, "The Heart of a Champion" is a different style of competitive novel, don't use the previous standards to say how many words should be and how many chapters should be. The novel is written by me, and I have my own sense of propriety. I am happy to make suggestions, but the final decision is made by me. If I accept it, it must be my own consideration. If you have to make me write according to your opinion, and if you don't write like this, it's watery, it's garbage, it's something, then I'm sorry, this person is like Tony Donn, and has always been soft but not hard.

Finally, the style of my next book may be different again, and maybe I won't even play in a professional league until the end of the book, I don't know if some people can stand it?